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'Big Apple' braces for Sandy

JENNIFER PELTZ and TOM HAYS, Associated Press

Posted:
10/29/2012 05:21:17 PM MDT

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The Atlantic ocean washes under the stairway of an abandoned beach house that survived Hurricane Sandy in Nags Head, N.C., Monday. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain.

NEW YORK (AP) - Defiant New Yorkers jogged, pushed strollers and took snapshots of churning New York Harbor on Monday, trying to salvage normal routines in a city with no trains, schools and an approaching mammoth storm.

"The worst is still coming," warned Gov. Andrew Cuomo as officials shut tunnels, Broadway, mass transit and the stock exchange, saying Hurricane Sandy's storm surge could inundate downtown with up to 11 feet of water. Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers living on the waterfront or low-lying areas were ordered to leave. He said the heart of the storm was going to hit the nation's largest city at 6 p.m., two hours earlier than expected.

On New York's Long Island, floodwaters had begun to deluge some low-lying towns and more than 100,000 customers had lost power. And high winds picked up during the day in the city, leaving a construction crane dangling from a $1.5 billion luxury condominium under construction in midtown Manhattan. Waters swelled over esplanades at the southern tip of Manhattan and parts of a highway that snakes along Manhattan's East Side was flooded. About 16,000 New Yorkers lost power, mostly in the boroughs of Queens and Staten Island.

Despite the dire forecasts, many chose to embrace what was coming.

Tanja Stewart and her 7-year-old son, Finn, came from their home in Manhattan's TriBeCa neighborhood to admire the white caps on the Hudson, Finn wearing a pair of binoculars around his neck. "I really wanted to see some big waves," he said.

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Mark Vial pushed a stroller holding his 2-year-old daughter Maziyar toward his apartment building in Battery Park City, an area that was ordered evacuated.

"We're high up enough, so I'm not worried about flooding," said Via, 35. "There's plenty of food. We'll be OK.

Nearby, Keith Reilly climbed up on a rail next to the rising waters of New York Harbor so his friend Eli Rowe could snap a photo of him in an Irish soccer jersey with the Statue of Liberty in the background.

"This is not so bad right now," said the 25-year-old Reilly. "We'll see later."

The worst of the storm, a combination of Sandy, a wintry system from the West and cold air streaming from the Arctic, was expected to hit the city under a full moon at about 6 p.m. Surging waters of between 6 and 11 feet could flood subway tunnels, knocking out the underground network of power, phone and high-speed Internet lines that are the lifeblood of America's financial capital.

It marked the second time in 14 months that New York City has faced a scenario forecasters have long feared: a big hurricane hitting the city or a bit south, with counterclockwise winds driving water into miles of densely populated shoreline.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged more of the 375,000 people in the city's evacuation zone to get out earlier Monday, saying the weather would soon get too bad to leave. He closed schools for a second day on Tuesday. The U.N. and the 9/11 memorial were also closed.

"Leave immediately. ... The window for you getting out safely is closing," he said.

Joshua Segal, who lives in a 10-story Battery Park City building, stayed, chatting with neighbors outside his building Monday afternoon. He said at least half of his neighbors decided not to leave, even though the superintendent turned off the elevator.

He said he can understand why people with health concerns might want to evacuate but "if you're in good health and you're just going to stay and read a book by candlelight - I'm OK."

And New Yorkers Andrew Rotz and Alex Grvymala, two young investment bankers on the Battery, wearing shorts and t-shirts, were jogging all over Lower Manhattan. Rotz said they wanted to blow off some energy before the storm hit.

"It's seems like this one's for real," Grvymala said of the coming storm.

Associated Press writers Karen Matthews, Colleen Long and Deepti Hajela in New York, Larry Neumeister, Frank Eltman and Meghan Barr on Long Island, and Seth Borenstein in Kensington, Md., contributed to this report.

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